5 tricky areas of subject–verb agreement

One of the most popular edits I have to make is subject–verb agreement.

When writing, you must ensure that the subject of the sentence agrees with the verb in the sentence regarding numbering.

• “My sister loves hot peppers”, not “My sister love hot peppers”
• “They are quiet tonight”, not “They is quiet tonight”

When you’re using a single pronoun (“My sister” or “they”, for example), it’s pretty straightforward: singular subjects take singular verbs, and plural subjects take plural verbs.

But it can become tricky.

1. Anyone, everyone, someone, no one, and nobody

Anyone, everyone, someone, no one, and nobody are always singular, so they always get singular verbs:

• Everyone loves eating hot peppers.
• Nobody hates jalapeños.

2. Everyone and everybody

These sound like more than one person, and people can fall into the trap of pairing them up with plural verbs. They’re singular, however, just like the other indefinite pronouns above.

• Everybody wants to rule the world.

3. Each

Oooo, this one’s sneaky. Often, “each” is combined with a prepositional phrase that includes a plural noun.

• Each of the peppers
• Each of the airplanes

Don’t fall for it though. The agreement should lie with “each” and not with the plural noun.

• Each of the peppers is red.

4. Together with, as well as, and along with

These are some other tricky phrases. Sometimes, we tend to think these are synonymous with “and”, so we treat the nouns they connect as plural. However, their usage is usually parenthetical, so you’ll likely use singular verbs.

• The judge together with his cohorts watches the hot pepper eaters.
• The judge and his cohorts watch the hot pepper eaters.

5. Neither and either

These, too, are singular. You’re comparing individual subjects, not collective ones.

• Neither of the hot peppers is actually hot.
• Either hot sauce is fine with me.

There are the 5 tricky areas of subject–verb agreement. They certainly aren’t the only ones. If you have a subject–verb combination you’re unsure of, let me know in the comments below, and we can figure out together what it should look like.